Napa Valley2006

The 2006 vintage was not the easiest for Napa growers, as a wide range of issues demanded careful management of the vineyards. It started as winter flooding, and wet weather pushed back bud break — spring botrytis was a problem. Things heated up in June and July, and shatter was a problem, but the pace of ripening also caught up somewhat in the warm conditions. August cooled off a bit, allowing the pace of ripening to continue at a good clip, and conditions remained sound through the harvest. Cool temperatures arrived in October, with a little rain in the first week, and mold was a concerns. Late-ripening Cabernet struggled somewhat to achieve perfect physiological ripeness, and while the vintage has produced some very good to excellent wines, it is a bit more variable than the stellar years that surround it.

Key Dates

June

Conditions warmer than average

July

Conditions warmer than average

August

Coolest of the summer months

October

Slight rain at the start of the month

About Bond

Producer Facts

Winery Name

Bond

Web Site

https://bondestates.com

Bond Estates is the brainchild of Napa legends Bill Harlan and Bob Levy. The winery focuses exclusively on single-vineyard bottlings from some of the best, most unique sites in the Valley. The approach is essentially Burgundian, and indeed, each of the carefully selected vineyards is labeled as a “Grand Cru.”

Harlan and Levy developed the idea for Bond while they were working together at Merryvale Vineyards in the 1980s. It was there that they first got a look at fruit from some of the best Cabernet vineyards in Napa, and realized the great potential for single-vineyard bottlings. Though similar wines existed at the time — think Phelps’ “Eisele,” and Heitz’s “Martha’s Vineyard,” — it was an era when “Reserve,” “Cask,” and “Special” selections were seen as just as, or even more important than single-site bottlings. Generally speaking, Napa Cabernet was painted with one broad brush, with the individual identity of terroir very much a sub-plot.

Harlan and Levy’s gamble was to find a collection of top-tier vineyards that would capture and reflect the unique elements of their terroirs. Furthermore, they sought to build long-term relationships with growers who could farm to their exacting specifications. The pair identified the first two vineyards, Vecina and Melbury, while they were still at Merryvale. Vecina is an 11-acre site in Oakville, with soil composed of bedrock overlain with fine grained alluvial wash. Melbury sits further north on seven rocky, hillside acres east of Rutherford.

By 1984, Bill Harlan had purchased what is now Harlan Estate in Oakville, the site of the Bond winery, but it wouldn’t be until the sale of Merryvale in 1996 that Harlan and Levy were able to move forward in earnest with Bond. Between 1994 and 1998 they made several experimental vintages from Vecina and Melbury, releasing the 1999 as the first commercial vintage.

Over the years, Bond has been routinely mistaken for a Harlan second label. I can recall hosting a Bond wine dinner for some top clients, where most of the guests — pretty savvy collectors — were under this misconception. In reality, they are two different projects with completely different visions. Where Harlan is very much a single-vineyard wine, the vineyard itself has a multitude of exposures and aspects, altitudes ranging from 150 to 1,200 feet, and is planted to four different grape varieties over a total of 40 acres. Cory Empting, who is winemaker at both Harlan and Bond, says that making the Harlan wines, “is like conducting a symphony,” — his task, to bring the best of its various, magnificent elements into perfect harmony. The Bond wines, in contrast, are much more “naked,” says Cory (more Bach cello suite than symphony). It is one estate, with multiple Grand Crus, each made from a single tiny vineyard, with one exposure, one dominant soil, and one single grape variety.

The number of “Grand Crus” in the Bond portfolio has increased to five as of 2006 with the additions of St. Eden (2001), Pluribus (2003), and then Quella. At any given time, there are up to 12 vineyards in consideration for “Grand Cru” status. On average, Harlan and Levy work with a site for eight to nine years before selecting it, which gives them enough time to decide whether quality is consistently high enough, and whether or not the vineyard possesses a truly unique signature.

While this project has been a long time in the making, both Harlan and Levy are looking toward the future. Cory adds, “In Burgundy they’ve had over a thousand years to figure it out. We hope we can do it a little quicker than that, but vines take time, and we won’t rush it.”

The single varietal/single vineyard model allows for a fairly pure expression of the site, but farming and winemaking can always threaten to override the nuances. That said, winemaking is not done in a formulaic way here. “We work pretty traditionally, and are focused on getting the best potential expression from each site,” said Cory. “That may require employing various farming, pruning, or training techniques in order to best balance each vineyard and get the best ripening outcomes.” Harvesting and fermentation are both handled on a very specific, block by block basis.

Uniqueness of site, or “terroir,” is fleeting and precious, and is first and foremost dictated by the geology and climate of a place. But it is easily squandered — blended, farmed, or manipulated away into something unrecognizable. At Bond, Harlan and Levy are committed to capturing and expressing the unique and singular voices of their vineyards, and they do this, year after year, in exquisite style.

About Cabernet Sauvignon

Flavor Profile

Full, tannic wines with notes of blackcurrant and cassis

Cabernet Sauvignon has been the flagship red grape of the California wine industry for decades, and its popularity shows no sign of abating. Napa Valley is the heart of Cabernet Sauvignon production and is clearly an ideal region for creating world-class wines. If any Cabernet-based wine is capable of giving Bordeaux a run for its money, it's Napa Valley's examples. However, due to the extremely high cost of purchasing and developing vineyards in California, and the cachet of Napa Valley on the label, this has largely become a category for the well-heeled wine lover.

At their best, Napa Valley's Cabernets are characterized by fruit notes of cassis, black cherry, and licorice and sweet oak notes of chocolate, mocha, cedar, and tar. Today, most of the best wines are aged entirely or almost completely in French oak barrels, which tend to produce somewhat more refined wines than do most American barrels. (These latter barrels often introduce exotic and pungent suggestions of scotch, bourbon, tar, coconut, and dill.) But the use of expensive French oak is no guarantee of a good bottle: too many wines today, due to high crop levels or insufficiently ripe fruit, do not have the stuffing to support their oakiness and can quickly be dominated or even dried out by their wood component. The best California Cabernets mellow and soften with five to ten years of bottle aging, developing more complex and less fruit-dominated notes of tobacco, leather, and earth, with mellower wood tones. Compared to the top Bordeaux, however, many California Cabernet Sauvignons merely endure in bottle rather than truly become more interesting. There are no shortage of quality producers, even if these wines are rarely values. And it remains to be seen if today's outsized showstoppers, made from superripe grapes and undeniably impressive on release, will reward extended bottle aging or will turn out to have been best suited for drinking in their youth.

Many wines labeled Cabernet Sauvignon contain small percentages of other so-called Bordeaux varieties -- chiefly Merlot and Cabernet Franc but also Petit Verdot and even Malbec (varietally labeled wines in California must contain at least 75% of the variety named).

Cabernet Sauvignon also flourishes in Washington State, Australia and even Chile. In Washington, prices have been creeping up at the high end, with some producers aiming to compete with cult wines from the Napa Valley. Consider Chateau Ste. Michelle and Woodward Canyon. In Australia, look to the Coonawarra and Margaret River regions. Chile can reveal excellent bargains to those who know where to look: Montes makes a strong range of quality bottlings, as does Casa Lapostolle.

As Cabernet Sauvignon is bold and assertive on the palate, it pairs best with foods like grilled red meats. Taken together, the proteins and fats in the food neutralize some of the stronger tannic qualities of the wine, leading to a harmonic combination that enhances both partners.